Hot! Stand By Levein The Way You Stood By Andy Murray

Any man who is doing his best can t be termed a failure and that much is true of Craig Levein.

I can t bring myself to join in the condemnation of Scotland s World Cup qualification results against Serbia and Macedonia.

And the simple, mathematical act of equating three wins in 10 competitive matches for Craig as grounds for dismissal doesn t add up for me.

An unhealthy environment has been created in recent days.

It is as if there are people in this country, including the Scotland fans and some members of the media, who can t wait to see Levein fall.

It irks and mystifies me to see the man stand alone in this way.

My summation of what Craig has done as Scotland boss is that he has been good but not outstanding.

And I don t think Craig would quibble with that assessment.

I believe Scotland are going in the right direction with Craig in charge of the team and Mark Wotte looking after the future as SFA performance director.

And it s up to SPL managers to improve the standard of player Craig has to choose from.

Football has lost its identity by allowing players to represent a country their grandparents happened to come from.

I watched my son Dean score for Northern Ireland on Tuesday and part of the pride I felt was that he was part of a team in which every player was born and bred in my country.

When I was looking after Northern Ireland s Under-19 I wouldn t pick anyone who wasn t born there.

I don t want national pride to be diluted by loopholes and I d like to help give Craig more native Scots to choose from.

I also believe Dean s progress was hindered by prehistoric coaching methods for seven years because of an insistence on using a rigid 4-4-2 system.

Levein s more flexible and it irritates me that so many people want to be Scotland manager and criticise his tactics.

I often think if you put 10 Scots in a room to pick the team you d get 10 different selections.

That s why I had sympathy with Craig when he said that he would decide who was in the team and who would come on.

And it s totally without foundation to say that Levein s Scotland lacks the passion of previous national teams.

Scots have nothing to prove in that direction after Andy Murray s US Open heroics.

I watched that match on TV until 2.30am on Tuesday then lay awake until 5am going over it all in my mind again.

I was so motivated by Andy s feat that I drove to Kilmarnock s training ground and was working in the gym by 6.25am.

The Murray Factor didn t kick in at Hampden but that doesn t mean it s time to rip it up and start again.

The draw with Macedonia was received badly but all I can say is there are no easy matches at international level. I know the public want to feel good about their team but certain forms of desperation impair a side s performance.

Instead of asking why there have only been three wins in 10 matches under Levein, ask yourself another question.

Who did he fail to beat? Spain home and away for a start. That makes it three wins from eight so far as I m concerned.

Sometimes it s necessary to look deeper than the manager.

Everyone associated with the group who drew with Serbia and Macedonia has to examine what they ve done to help Craig.